There are several types of firing military load or ammunition known in pyrotechnics, such as concentrated explosive charges, elongated explosive charges, and cumulative explosive charges. The concentrated charges are customarily used in fougasse bombs, land mines, and different kinds of grenades. The elongated charges are often utilized to stuff rockets and torpedos, for clearing of minefields, etc.; they mainly act on the target by the front portion of the charge, whereas the explosive energy of the remaining portion of the charge is spread toward other directions. The cumulative charges are usually supplied for stuffing special purpose grenades and mines, e.g. naval mines for destroying armored enemy ships and submarines. A body of a cumulative explosive charge is performed with at least one cumulative cavity (concave hole) on its surface, serving to concentrate the energy of explosion in the direction towards the object to be destroyed.
Apparently, the cumulative type of charge is substantially more effective than the elongated type of charge. However, torpedos are commonly furnished with the elongated type charges due to their usually cigar-like shape (dictated by hydrodynamics to allow for high speed of the torpedo) that causes their low explosive efficiency.